


Children and Rivers

by therune



Category: Assassin's Creed
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-07
Updated: 2012-04-07
Packaged: 2017-11-03 05:08:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/377634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/therune/pseuds/therune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on a picture prompt - link inside - showing our white-clad assassin holding up Leonardo while hiding under a bridge from guards. Bonus: it's not the assassin you're thinking of</p>
            </blockquote>





	Children and Rivers

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [i'm sorry, but this was the request on the kink meme and no title or artist was posted. the picture is awesome, though](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/7744) by but this was the request on the kink meme and no title or artist was posted. the picture is awesome, though. 



> notes: I just had to do something with this picture, it just has something that makes me want to know more, to write, to just do something. I read the artist´s notes, but I´m afraid that I will be taking some liberties. Hopefully you will be able to enjoy the story nontheless

It was a warm day of spring in Firenze. The water of the Arno flowed quietly and made the sunlight gleam. People were on the streets and on the rooftops, a figure in white walked silently.

In awe, Leonardo from Vinci stared at the gorgeous buildings, at the masses of people, of the splendour of Firenze. Once, as a very young child he had been to Firenze, but he couldn't remember much. But the sight now was overwhelming! Already his mind raced with a thousand questions and ideas, his fingers itched to sketch the city, to capture a glimpse of it on canvas. He had arrived at night while it had rained, the clouds hiding everything. His master had given him the afternoon off; Maestro Verrocchio had a commission to finish and had no use for an untrained apprentice while he delivered the finishing touches.  
Leonardo looked at the people beside him and then at himself and his new clothes. They weren't fancy or expensive, but compared to his old ones, they were fit for a king and he couldn't have felt any more like a prince had he worn ermine fur and a heavy crown on his head.

Firenze was so different from Vinci. Leonardo sat on a bench near a fountain and soaked in the spirit of the city. The heralds delivered messages, the people talked - about art, politics, trade and economy and everything else - there were minstrels singing and it was perfect.

Leonardo rose and decided to go to visit famous sights, maybe the Palazzo Medici, when someone bumped into him and knocked him to the ground. He felt a hand brush his side. Quickly he reached for the pouch that hung there but he felt nothing. It had been stolen. He bolted after the fleeing figure - a man dressed in dark, tattered clothes - desperate to get the pouch back."Thief!" he yelled and ran as fast as his legs would carry him. The man didn't slow down, he slipped through the crowd like a fish through water.  
"Give it back!" Leonardo demanded.  
It was no use - the man clearly knew the streets of Firenze and he was faster than Leonardo as well.  
"Somebody stop him!" he yelled. He wasn't going to give up, but he ran out of options. No guards or citizens were willing to assist him, he didn't know the man´s face or name and by now he was thoroughly lost. He was running over a bridge, lungs burning with every breath and legs trembling. The man vanished behind a corner and Leonardo lost all hope. Then he heard yelling, metal clashing and rough voices shouting.  
The man had turned back and was now running towards Leonardo. And he was being pursued by a group of guards who yelled and charged onwards with their weapons aimed at the fleeing thief.  
The thief crashed against Leonardo and sent him flying into the river. Leonardo yelped and then hit the water.  
He thrashed wildly. He couldn't swim and panicked.  
Leonardo broke the surface, gasped for air, but there was so much water and he coughed and then sank again.  
Was this the end?  
Water gripped his legs and pulled him into the darkness. It got cold. He tried to move, but his limbs became heavy. 

Then the angel came.  
A figue in white dove into the water and as air and life left Leonardo, the figure seemed to glow. It had to be an angel.  
He barely felt the arms wrapping around his waist, then he was moving up. The glittering surface came closer, there was life, light, warmth. Then his head was out of the water and he gasped for air, breathing hard, chest heaving. His angel maneuvered them towards one of the pillars. Strong arms kept Leonardo upfloat, as the angel treaded water. "Please be quiet," the angel said, "there are still guards up there."  
"Aren't the guards supposed to help us?"  
His angel grinned. "You must be new here."  
Leonardo gripped the shoulders of the angel tightly, never wanting to go down under water again. He shivered, from the cold, the fear, maybe shock. He barely registered the tear running down his cheek.  
"It's going to be alright," his angel said reassuringly.  
He looked upwards as if he could see through the bridge. "It's safe now, they're going."  
He swam to the edge, dragging Leonardo with him.  
"You are an angel," Leonardo said as he was safe on the ground again.  
His savior laughed. "I´ve been called many things, but no one has ever thought me an angel before."  
Leonardo got his first good look at his savior. He was clad in white, with a hood over his face and a red cape over his arm. "You are, to me."  
The grin was so big that Leonardo could see it easily under the hood.  
"De nulla"  
"Then, do you often rescue children from the river?"  
"Actually-" the man rubbed his neck, dark, wet hair clung to his hand, "it happens, you're not the first I've pulled out of the Arno."  
Leonardo smiled, then coughed.  
"Mi dispiace, what was I thinking? You need to get out of those wet clothes, and fast. You´re going to catch the death if you don't get warm soon."  
He lifted Leonardo off the ground and sat him onto his shoulders.  
"Hold on," he said and then he moved. He scaled a wall with ease and climbed onto a roof. He moved with an unearthly grace that awed Leonardo.  
"And you are an angel!" he exclaimed.  
His savior chuckled. "Where to, bambino?"  
"I'm an apprentice with Maestro Verrocchio, but I'm new here, and I don't quite know the way."  
"I know this city like the back of my hand, I know where your master's workshop is." He flew over the rooftops, jumping further than was humanly possible, almost running on air. Leonardo clung to him and stared with awe at the city that raced past him, at the wind in his face and the sky over them.  
All too soon, the flight was over and they had reached the workshop. His angel put Leonardo down in an alley just acrosss the building.  
"This is goodbye, bambino."  
"My name´s Leonardo. Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, at your service. I'm in your debt, signore"  
His angel made a little bow. "De nulla." He pulled something from his belt. "I believe this is yours?"  
And indeed, it was the stolen pouch.  
"Grazie, grazie mille, signor angelo."  
"I told you, I´m no angel."  
"Then what is your name, signore?"  
The man crouched down in front of him, looking Leonardo straight into the eye. He saw brown eyes that glimmered impossibly golden, long hair spilling out from beneath the hood and a kind smile.  
"I cannot give you my name, it brings danger. But I doubt that this will be the last time we'll meet. Now, get inside and change out of these wet clothes." He ruffled Leonardo´s hair and stood up. "Take care, Leonardo."  
"And you as well, signor Angelo."  
Then his angel vanished again.

It would take almost a year until he saw him again, this time dressed like a common nobleman, with a beautiful wife holding a small child in her arms, and three children clinging to his arms and back. The hood was gone, the hair had gotten longer, but the kind smile was still the same. On this day, Leonardo met a family of angels and it was one of the happiest days of his life.


End file.
